District 211 rolls out revamped communications strategy, new mobile app and student press corps

Township High School District 211’s director of communications, Aaron Holmes, told the board on Wednesday that the district has implemented an expanded communications strategy that emphasizes reuse of content, broader language translation and new digital tools, including a district mobile app planned for launch this semester.

Holmes said the district moved more formerly printed materials online, increased translation capacity and began “create once, use often” workflows so a single story can be posted to the website, shared on social media and repurposed into other communications. “We could create content once and use it wherever we can,” Holmes said.

The presentation emphasized three themes: migrating printed materials to digital formats, increasing translation and accessibility, and boosting engagement via social media and a new mobile app. Holmes said the district’s digital newsletter platform can translate into more than 100 languages and gave an example of a recent newsletter receiving about 23,000 views in three days with an average read time of about 10 minutes.

Why it matters: District leaders said faster, more personalized communication helps families who rely on mobile devices and non-English translations. Holmes and staff framed the work as part of the district’s strategic plan goal on communications, noting families requested translations in nearly 40 languages and that analytics help measure reach and engagement.

Among items Holmes highlighted: - A branding guide to standardize District 211 communications and a “modernized” look for major materials. - Translation work, including transcripts and YouTube-hosted videos to support closed captions and machine-assisted translation checks; Holmes described specific problems the AI checks flagged, for example the word “guardian” translating poorly in some languages. - Growth on social channels including a large increase in LinkedIn followers and a month-to-month social reach jump Holmes said went from roughly 17,000 to about 142,700 for a high-activity month. - A district press corps that pairs student journalists with district staff and external outlets (Holmes said about 20 students participated this year and some student pieces ran in The Daily Herald). - A district mobile app in beta with personalization by school and emergency push capability; Holmes said the vendor supports roughly 130 languages and that user language settings persist between sessions.

Board members asked about translation accuracy, photo consent, and archival control. Holmes described consent and photo-use procedures: parents indicate permission at registration and staff maintain a “no photo” list that photographers and reporters can check. Holmes said the communications office contacts families before prominently featuring a student, and the district has removed a previously posted image at a family’s request. On correcting outdated web content, Holmes said webmasters meet weekly with school web contacts and that a website redesign will include an audit to remove obsolete pages.

Board members also asked for details on app-language support and site auditing. Holmes said the app vendor is the district’s existing web host and supports “about 130, give or take, languages,” and that web-page cleanup will be part of the upcoming redesign.

Holmes closed by saying the communications team will continue to expand student opportunities and accessibility features and is “confident that we'll continue to build on this progress moving forward.”

Looking ahead: Holmes said the app remains in beta and staff will return with launch details. The board did not vote on communications items at the meeting.